Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Reunion Letter
Wednesday
April 13, 2005
"She said I'm going home
You should come home too
But I'm at the end of a new frontier..."
-Counting Crows "New Frontier"
"Time goes by and Nashville seems so far away
But, I know that I can make it, I'm on my way"
-Kay Adams "I Never Got To Nashville"
Last night when I got home from work, I checked my mail. Among the bills and junk mail and coupons and fliers was a letter from Father Ryan High School in Nashville. On the return address was something relating to the "Class of 1995" -- my class. So, rather curious, I opened it as soon as I made it up to my apartment.
Not surprisingly, it was an invitation to the 10th Anniversary Class Reunion for the Class of '95. And, barring anything unforeseen, I plan to be there for it, shaved head and all. I'm actually quite excited about it, as many of these people I haven't seen since May 1995.
On the sheet included inside, to be sent with the RSVP and check, was a series of questions. Most of it was the typical: if you have a spouse, if you have any kids, etc. Then there were some interesting questions, like "What is your most memorable moment from high school?" Could you imagine what that would be if everyone answered that question truthfully? Wow, talk about interesting. I think the first ten things that popped into my mind are all unusable. How do you work Mr. Lucas Weekly in there and try to explain it where it makes any sense? 99% of you don't even know what that is, and for now it'll stay that way. Other ideas were things like "The time Rocky York jumped off the walkway bridge into the pond freshman year and got busted by Coach Bontreger" or the impromptu protest/takeover of Mrs. Brewer's English class freshman year, or what we did to that poor woman's stuffed animal (this mole-like creature that was used as a decoration in the classroom).
There are others that I don't even feel comfortable listing on here now... things along the lines of one upper-classman's boast (which was probably true, knowing this guy) of being the only FRHS student to have had sex at both the old campus (which closed in May 1991, the year before I started) and the new campus (which opened in August 1991, when I began as a freshman).
I briefly considered playing a really fun prank on one or more former classmates by making photocopied entries and putting some really whacked out stuff on there. Like saying they have 12 kids, or a same-sex "life partner" (I'm sure that would go over well at a Catholic school), or their best memory as "the time I dropped acid before taking that Latin Grammar final exam." Or how about profession as "thief"? The possibilities are endless. But I'm not one to go that far to pull a rib on someone.
It appears that I'm going to face a decision here fairly soon on the future of my living quarters. I have a nice apartment on the edge of Ybor City, but the Tampa Tribune reports that the units are about to be purchased by a New York developer, which plans to turn them into condos. I've known this was going to happen, but I'd hoped I could renew my lease one more time before the deal closed. Unfortunately, that doesn't look likely. So it means either buying the apartment/condo or moving to another apartment or buying elsewhere. It'd be nice to have a little more time before I have to make a final decision on this, but so it goes.
|
